A fuel cell power plant must manage its product water. This is normally accomplished by evaporative removal or entrainment from the cell stack assembly (CSA) by one or both of the fuel and oxidant reactant vent streams. The product water that is produced by the chemical reaction between hydrogen in the fuel reactant and oxygen in the process oxidant reactant is then typically passed on to a downstream condenser/sump where the product water is collected and stored for disposition within or outside the fuel cell system.
Land based fuel cell power plants employ gravity to separate its product water from the gaseous reactant exhaust. Power plants located in space and operating in a zero-gravity environment separate the water by centrifugal means. Centrifugal separation is accomplished by a high rotational speed pump/separator which has inherent high frequency noise and high energy torque associated with its operation. A drawback with the above-mentioned separation methods is that they are not suitable for underwater, space or terrestrial applications where gravity and/or attitude independence, low rotational torque and stealth are imposed simultaneously.
In response to the foregoing, it is an object of the present invention to provide a static water separator which overcomes the drawbacks and disadvantages of prior water separator systems. Other objects and advantages of this invention will become more readily apparent when the following description is read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.